The Ship That Bears The Wings of Freedom
by Lavi the Ninja Panda
Summary: 15 year old Eren is saved from the burning ruins of a ship. He is taught the ways of the ship, which goes by the name 'Legion'. However, he soon learns the nickname of the ship, 'Wings of Freedom' and the reason behind its name:Erwin Smith rescues 15 - 16 year olds who have been sentenced to death. But Eren has a secret he's not willing to share. Pirate AU; T for language, themes.
1. Prologue

Alright! First Shingeki no Kyojin fanfiction that I've written, but the second idea that I've come up with~

This is only a prologue, so I just want to know what you all think.

Shingeki no Kyojin and its characters belong to Hajime Isayama~

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_Prologue_

The evening was warm, the sun just going down beneath the horizon, painting the vast ocean and sky various different shades of pink, orange, yellow, purple and blue. On this vast ocean, a ship was sailing south-west, towards a pirate-friendly port town, where they could dock for a few days and stock up on their supplies. However, on this ship, a petite blonde girl noticed a boy with torn clothes and messy brown hair floating on a slat of wood. He was unconscious.

"Captain! Captain Smith! There is a boy floating in the water!" she yelled. The captain looked down into the water.

"Levi! Get that boy out of the water and – oh God." Captain Smith – a tall man with piercing blue eyes and a mop of blonde hair – gasped as he looked in the general direction of the boy: there was a ship burning and debris from the ship floating everywhere.

"Yes sir." Levi – a short man with sharp, intimidating grey eyes and straight black hair styled in an undercut – replied and jumped into a smaller boat and dropped down into the water, rowing towards the boy with the messy brown hair. He lifted him into the boat and rowed towards the burning ship, looking for any other survivors of the wreckage. He returned to the ship a few minutes later, lifting the taller boy into his arms and into a cabin filled with jars that contained various different coloured liquids and objects, a bed and a cabinet that held medical equipment.

"Ah, first mate Levi! What – bring him over here," a woman with brown hair tied into a pony tail and brown eyes resting behind rectangular glasses said as she pointed to one of the beds in the room. As Levi placed the boy onto the bed, the woman began asking questions.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Krista spotted him on a makeshift raft; a slat of wood."

"Where was he found?"

"Not too far from the ship, but far enough away from the burning remains of another ship."

"Do you know if there were any other survivors?"

"Hanji, there would be more people coming in with more unconscious bodies. With that deduction, it should be safe to say that there are no survivors of that ship. Now, please take care of the boy until he awakens and let me know when he does." Levi replied and walked out of the room, half slamming the door behind him in irritation. He began to walk up to the Bridge, to where Captain Smith was steering the ship.

"Levi, did you find any other survivors?"

"No, sir. There was only the boy." Levi replied as he leant against the edge of the ship.

"What a shame. We'll have to ask the boy a few questions when he wakes up." Captain Smith replied as he stopped the ship and took off his feathered hat.

"I asked Hanji to let me know when the boy wakes up, but for now, let's just go down and eat." Levi said as he walked down the stairs to the Galley, where the rest of the crew were seated around a large table with plates in front of them and silver cutlery and goblets beside them. Everyone stood up at the captain's entrance, waiting for their captain to tell them to sit down and dig in.

"Go on, I keep telling you not to wait for me," Erwin chuckled and motioned for the crew to sit down and eat.

"But we must do it because you've saved our asses from being executed." A short boy with a buzz cut said as he sat down.

"Connie! You're not supposed to – Sasha, what did I say about taking more than one bread roll?" a man with small brown eyes and ash-brown hair and shorter darker brown hair underneath, half-yelled at a girl with long brown hair and light brown eyes who seemed to be hoarding three bread rolls. There was more arguing and banter throughout dinner, but, it was the same as every other night.

After dinner, Levi cleaned the plates, cutlery and goblets, then cleaning the table and floors until they were somewhat shiny. He then walked into the room where he had placed the boy in Hanji's care. He didn't bother with knocking.

"What's his condition?" Levi asked as he sat down in a chair and folded one leg on top of his knee.

"Well, he's still unconscious, but not too long after you left, he woke up long enough for me to ask his name," she replied, removing a cloth from the boy's head and dipping it in a wooden bowl, squeezing it, then folding it and placing it back onto the boy's head. "But he's got a fever, so I don't think he'll be able to answer any questions for a day or two." Hanji said as she took a swig from a flask at her hip.

"What is his name?"

"Eren. Eren Jaeger."

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Okay, I think the title sucks, but if you can come up with a better name, please let me know~ I'd like to hear your ideas.

I'll post another chapter later, cause it's 3:30 AM right now and I'm dead tired.

Review and tell me what you think!

~ _Lavi the Ninja Panda_


	2. Chapter I

**_And we're back with Chapter 1! I decided to keep the name because people said they liked it. _**

Review replies!

**CsillaDream:**_Thanks! And I'm keeping the title. People like it. That is completely undecided. The story will flow the way it flows._

**Buntaichou:** _Haha, glad you like it so much. _

**Guest:** _? Maybe you meant ':3', but whatever, glad you reviewed! Ahaha._

**This crazy and unbelievably awesome series belongs to Hajime Isayama. The story idea is my own.**

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_Chapter I_

Eren woke with a pounding head and growling stomach. He sat up and looked around: an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar – was the room going up and down, or was it just him? He groaned as the room started to sway harder and he began to feel sick. The sick feeling didn't pass; he wanted to throw up but there was nothing to throw up. He didn't notice someone walk into the room.

"Ah, you're awake!" Hanji said as she sat down in the chair next to Eren's bed.

"Uh… Who are you and where am I?" Eren asked in a scratchy voice. He coughed and took the goblet of water when it was offered. He drank the whole thing before handing the goblet back and thanking the woman.

"Well, my name's Hanji Zoe, the resident medic and scientist on the ship _Legion_." She replied and picked up the fallen cloth that used to be on Eren's forehead.

"Wait… what? Another ship… Great." Eren sighed and lay back down.

"Well, I'll be right back." Hanji said and got up, leaving the room to find Levi. She found him inspecting the deck that the crew members had cleaned ten minutes before.

"Levi, he's awake."

"Oh? Well," Levi got up, dusting his knees off. "Redo this deck 'till it _shines_." Levi ordered the crew, who groaned collectively and started scrubbing the deck again. Levi followed Hanji back to the room and sat on the chair in front of Eren's bed. He was lying there, staring at the ceiling and muttering to himself.

"Oi, brat." Eren jumped.

"Holy shit you scared me…" Eren said and sat up.

"Watch your tongue boy," Levi growled and leant forward and placed his elbows on his knees. "Now you tell me, Eren, what do you remember?"

"I don't remember much aside from being on a ship and then another ship attacked us, blowing the ship up and leaving no other survivors. I escaped through a hole that had been made by a cannon ball before the ship blew up," Eren shrugged. "That's all I remember."

"Hm…" Levi thought for a minute and left, coming back a few minutes later with Erwin.

"Uh, who are you and who is the short guy?" Eren asked as Erwin sat down in Levi's chair. Levi's face darkened and his eyebrow twitched.

"Well, I'm Erwin Smith, the captain of _Legion_ and this is Levi, my first mate." Erwin explained as he clapped Levi on the back in an attempt to calm Levi down. Levi continued to glare at Eren as Erwin began to explain how the ship worked.

"And now you'll be placed with the other crew mates and they'll tell you what to do." Levi got up and left, leaving Eren and Hanji to stare at him and Erwin with a smile on his face. Eren's stomach growled and his face flushed red. Erwin chuckled and stood up.

"I think I'll ask the cook to make something for you, as dinner is already over." He said and left.

An hour later, Eren was being introduced to his new crew mates, but feeling too tired to remember the names to the faces. He asked where he could sleep and the one with blonde hair, styled in a bowl cut, pointed to a spare hammock next to a guy named Jean. He walked over to the hammock and fell asleep as soon as he lay down.

Early the next morning, the whole crew were woken up by first mate Levi's shouts of:

"Get the hell out of bed!"

"Wake the fuck up you shitty brats."

And finally:

"I will make you all scrub this ship from top to bottom until it fucking _sparkles_ if you don't get up." And everyone was awake and out of bed before Levi finished that sentence… except for Eren.

"_If you don't get up now, new guy, he WILL make you clean this whole ship till it fucking sparkles._" A guy with a nice smile and freckles splattered over his cheeks whispered into his ear as he kicked Jean awake with his foot. Eren sat up and got out of the hammock and faced the guy.

"Who are you?" he asked as the guy kicked Jean hard once more before he fell out of the hammock and landed on the wooden floor with a loud _'thud'_.

"What the fuck Marco?" Jean grumbled as he stood up and fixed his clothes, yawning and scratching his face.

"Well, I'm Marco and this idiot over here is Jean." Marco stuck his hand out and Eren took it, shaking it.

"I'm Eren."

"We know." Eren nodded and followed Marco and Jean out of the sleeping quarters and into the Galley to have something to eat and drink before doing work around the ship for the day.

Breakfast was the same as dinner on the _Legion_: Sasha trying to hoard more food than she was given, Jean yelling at her and Connie chatting about some random thing or another. All in all, Eren enjoyed the change of scenery and pace. Back on the prison ship that he had been on, they were given one meal a day – a small one – and were forced to do work on empty stomachs. It was always silent and Eren's ears would ring from the continuous silence.

When Levi ordered them to start cleaning, Eren was put into a group of five.

Eren wasn't feeling particularly chatty that morning, so he set to washing the dishes while the others in his group cleaned the table, floor and dried the dishes. A short blonde boy was drying the dishes, and he felt the need to talk to Eren after about fifteen minutes of washing and drying.

"Hello, my name's Armin."

"Hello Armin. I'm Eren."

"I know."

"How does everyone know my name? I don't remember telling anybody my name." Eren said as he wiped his face on his sleeve.

"You were introduced to us last night and we were introduced to you, but it doesn't look like you remember any of us. You looked really tired." Armin had switched drying cloths as the other one got too damp to use and continued drying.

"Yeah, I had a fever for a day or so after I was rescued from a sinking ship. As I was told, 'cause I don't remember what happened…" Eren trailed off as he picked up another plate and dropped it.

"Shit!" he cursed as he bent down and started to pick up the pieces. His shirt rode up his back and when he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder, he knew something was up. He turned around and was somewhat face to face with the first mate.

"I want you in the medical quarters now." He said before he walked out of the kitchen.

"I wonder what that was about…" he muttered to himself before placing the broken plate pieces on the table, not sure where to put them. He then walked out of the kitchen and Galley and headed into the room that he had spent the last few days in, recovering from the fever. He knocked on the door twice before a muffled 'enter' was spoken.

Eren opened the door and found himself faced with Captain Smith, Hanji and Levi. He felt a little worried and it must have shown on his face as Hanji laughed and told him not to worry. She told him to have a seat and he did. Levi walked forward and stared Eren down.

"I don't like being lied to, boy. Now tell me, what do you really remember?" Levi growled. Eren was taken aback.

"What do you mean? That's all I remember! What do you want me to do, rip out my brain and hand it to you?" Eren replied rudely. That earned Eren a kick in the shin. "_Fuck, ow…_" he hissed.

"Language. Now stop lying. I've seen the brand on your lower back. _Now tell me the truth._"

"I've told you what I remember! Stop making me repeat myself!" Eren shouted. Levi kicked him in the same shin.

"And I've told _you_ to stop lying."

"Levi, enough. Eren clearly doesn't remember anything other than what he told us, so leave him be." Captain Smith said and placed a hand on Levi's shoulder. Levi sighed and sat down in another chair, folding his leg over his knee and glaring at Eren.

"_Fucking pirates…_" Eren mumbled under his breath as Captain Smith bent down to Eren's level.

"You can come to us if you remember something, okay? Don't force yourself to remember anything, you may hurt yourself doing so." He said to Eren.

"Okay." Eren replied.

"You may go back to work now." Captain Smith said and Eren stood up.

"Thank you, sir." Eren said and left. Erwin sat in the chair that Eren had previously been occupying.

"So he was sentenced for execution… What could he have done that he would deserve such a fate?" Erwin sighed.

"He could have done a number of things, Erwin." Levi replied as he found a cloth and began polishing his boots.

"But to be branded… He would have had to have done something horrible…" Erwin sighed again and stood up. "Makes you wonder what kind of life he led before being on that other ship. Anyway, the port is only a day away, so let the kids have a break." Erwin stood up and left for the Bridge. Levi sighed and walked out to the deck and whistled loudly, all the crew members walking out to the deck.

"Since port is only a day away, Captain Smith told me to let you lot have a break until we get to port. Just don't dirty the ship any more than it already is." Levi said and walked up onto the Bridge and watched the crew as they whooped and made lots of noise in their joy.

"They need a break every once in a while, Levi. You shouldn't work them so hard." Erwin said as he watched the deck below.

"Maybe I'll consider it."

"That's as good as a yes, coming from you." Erwin chuckled. He saw some of the crew go back to the sleeping quarters. "They look tired, maybe you shouldn't make them get up so early. They're only kids."

"Maybe if they hadn't been sent to a life sentence in prison, I might've let them sleep in a little longer." Levi replied.

"After we leave port, I'm expecting you to let them at least sleep in 'till the sun has risen a fair bit over the horizon."

"I'll consider it."

"What're you gonna do with Eren?"

"I might take him on as my apprentice, if he remembers something relating to his brand."

"Well, let's hope that he remembers something."

"Hopefully."

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I have to make some edits to the prologue because I remembered something important. But, hopefully you guys will enjoy this chapter~

Review and you get cookies shaped like titans.

_- Lavi the Ninja Panda_


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